Aviation Daily on Airports

Story of the Week - Phoenix, Portland Airports Offer Easier Parking

Our top story this week in Aviation Daily's Airports (see here for free) is about efforts at Phoenix Sky Harbor and Portland International airports to better inform passengers on available parking. 

Phoenix is installing a system that will more accurately count the number of available spaces in its lots and and let passengers know by electronic signs at the entrance of each lot and on each level of its parking garages.  But the system will not tell drivers exactly where the spots are.  The new system will cover more than 10,000 spaces at the airport.

Portland is taking its system to the next level by actually showing drivers where spots are available, except on the top floor of its lot.  The Portland system uses overhead sonic detectors to show available spaces.  The Portland system will be available in spring 2007, while Phoenix will begin to go online in 2008.

As someone who parks at airports regularly, I have to commend my hometown airport --  Baltimore Washington Thurgood Marshall International -- for installing the Portland system in its hourly and daily lots.  When you drive in, a sign tells you how many spaces are in each level of the parking lot.  Once inside, each row has a sign that shows how many spaces are available in the row.  And each row has a light showing availability of a space -- red for occupied and green for available.  The BWI system has probably saved me hours of driving around trying to find a space.  And now that I am usually carrying a baby with me, it's even more important. 

I was recently traveling out of Sacramento International, and I drove my sister's truck for her to pick up.  This airport's daily parking garage has a system that is similar to what Phoenix is going to install.  It was convenient to know exactly how many spaces were available in each level.  Anything that improves the parking experience for customers can only contribute to an airport's bottom line.

Things That Make You Go Hmmmm - The NWA Boarding Pass Generator

EDITOR'S NOTE - When I originally wrote this post on Friday, Oct. 27, the link to the boarding pass generator was still up.  It has now been taken down, but I'm going to run the post anyway. BJW

I'm catching up on my e-mail in one of my airline geek chat groups and imagine my surprise when I opened one with the subject line "Print At Home Boarding Passes."  So I open it up and it leads to a link to a site called "Chris's NWA Boarding Pass Generator."  Yes, it's exactly as it reads.

How does it work?  You just type in a name (Chris thought it would be funny to use Osama Bin Laden), the date, a flight number, a gate, a departure and arrival city and time and class of travel.  I was able to generate a boarding pass for myself to get past security at Washington National.  And I tried it -- it looked real, right down to the bar codes.  I even gave myself a first-class seat.  And if that weren't enough, Chris also gives tips on how to bypass the no-fly list.

Now being a law-abiding citizen (and the sister of a police officer), I didn't print the pass and I would never use something like this to beat the system.  But there are many others who aren't like me.  I can see people using this for everything from hanging out with their friends at the gate to an actual person up to no good.

Chris even notes at his Slight Paranoia blog that Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) has called for his arrest for creating the Web site.  "The Bush administration must immediately act to investigate, apprehend those responsible, shut down the Web site, and warn airlines and aviation security officials to be on the look-out for fraudsters or terrorists trying to use fake boarding passes in an attempt to cheat their way through security and onto a plane," wrote Markey, a senior member of the Committee on Homeland Security, in a statement.

ABC News  even interviewed Chris about his Web site.  And what did Northwest Airlines say when I asked for a comment?   I got this from our friend Roman Blahoski: “Northwest Airlines is cooperating with law enforcement and government agencies on this matter.  The airline determines the validity of boarding the aircraft, not the validity of gaining access beyond the TSA security checkpoint.  Northwest verifies boarding passes prior to boarding through bar code scans or other methods and persons with unauthorized boarding passes cannot gain access to Northwest aircraft.  If it is determined that a fraudulent boarding pass has been presented, Northwest immediately alerts the TSA and law enforcement agencies.”

Surely TSA must be working to plug what seems to me to be a gap in security.  But to my surprise, TSA spokeswoman Ann Davis had this to say --  "While you may be able to get access to the terminal's interior through the security checkpoint, TSA assures that every individual introduced to the sterile environment beyond the checkpoint and their accessible property have been thoroughly checked and screened."

But Chris was nice enough to tell TSA exactly what it should do to stop people from using his fake boarding pass generator:

1. Give TSA employees scanners/computers, so that they can verify the validity of the boarding passes when you reach the security checkpoint. This is currently only done at the gate.
2. Do NOT allow people to print out boarding passes online. They're far too easy to spoof.
3. Stop assumming that just because you know who someone is, you know if they're a terrorist or not. Most of the 9/11 hijackers were not on the no-fly list, and none of the recent London liquid bomb-plot guys were on the no-fly list.

OK, so people are screened, and there's not much damage that can be done with a fake boarding pass.  I guess for me, it's just the hint of impropriety or feeling that the pass could be used for some unsavory purpose.  Just some food for thought...

Strange, But True Airport News

Hair today, prison tomorrow?  Kids, I really can't make this stuff up.  An airline baggage courier for Qantas has pleaded guilty to stealing hair samples from the lost luggage of female passengers and keeping the samples on file, according to an article at keralanext.com.  It gets weirder, but I warn you -- don't read further if you get creeped out easily.  Rodney Petersen, 30, faced 110 charges of theft and stalking after taking strands of both head and pubic hair from the luggage.  After he was caught rifling through luggage, police found 87 plastic bags of hair and several books with details of more than 365 women in Peterson's home and car.  No one was able to determine what sources he used to find the hair samples.  He ended up pleading guilty to seven counts of theft and another seven counts of stalking.

Goin' to the airport and we're gonna get married!  Thanks to our friend at Upgrade Travel for telling us that you can now get married at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport.  You can do anything else there, so why not get married too?  The airport is offering four different packages for couples wanting to say "I do".

I thought this ferry was going to Toronto City Centre Airport!!  Color them embarassed!  Toronto Port Authority held a media event to unveil its new $5 million ferry from the city to the airport that turned into a PR nightmare, according to an article in the Globe and Mail. The ferry ride, which is supposed to take a minute, turned into a 27-minute nightmare, with the ferry slamming into the rocks.  Guests were originally told the captain had a medical emergency, then were told he missed the dock because it was obscured with purple smoke released as part of the festivities.

You can break my arm, but the trumpet is going with me.  A jazz trumpeter on an Air India flight from Paris to New York got his arm broken after fighting with airport security over the boarding of his trumpet, according to an article in the Sydney Morning Herald.  Valery Ponomarev wanted to bring his 1961 Connstellation trumpet onboard, but airline staff insisted that the instrument be checked.  The police were called, and in the scuffle, his arm was wrenched and broken.  He flew back with the trumpet three days later.

That's not a gun, it's my cigarette lighter!!  The Penticton Regional Airport was shut down for 20 minutes after security found a cigarette lighter shaped like a gun in a passenger's carry-on bag, according to an article in the Penticton Western News.  After a thorough search, the passenger was released to his flight.

If you want to play, you have to pay.  Remember that post I did here in September about the student that called in a fake bomb threat so he could make his JetBlue flight out of Long Beach Airport?  Well, it's time for him to pay the piper.  Yechezkel Wells, 21, pleaded guilty to calling in the bomb threat on Aug. 26, according to an article in the Associated Press.  He could serve anwhere from probation to five years in prison when he is sentenced in January.

What IS it with Snoop Dogg and airports?  Rapper Snoop Dogg is facing criminal charges after security found a collapsible 21-inch baton in his carry-on luggage for a flight out of John Wayne Airport, according to an article in the San Jose Mercury News.   It's not his first trouble at an airport.  Back in April, he was banned from flying British Airways for life when he and members of his party started a brawl after being denied entrance into BA's first-class lounge at London Heathrow.

Highlights from the First Aviation Daily/Engineering News-Record Airports Roundtable

Aviation Daily/Airports got together with sister publication Engineering News-Record to hold an industry roundtable Oct. 6 in New York City entitled "Planes, Pains and Payments."  The roundtable was a half-day session where industry experts and leaders spoke on issues affecting airports. 

The list of attendees read like a who's who in the airport business and included 30 officials representing federal agencies, airports, vendors, consultants and contractors, where we discussed crucial challenges facing the industry now and in the future.

I wrote a story (subscribers only) in the Oct. 11 issue of Aviation Daily based on one segment of the roundtable that covered raising the cap for Passenger Facility Charges (PFCs).  My story noted that while airports wanted to see the cap raised for PFCs, they didn't want airlines to have more control over how the money is spent.

Other topics discussed included FAA's Next Generation Airport Transportation Systems, alternative project delivery solutions, non-airline revenue sources and privatization were all covered.  To listen to highlights and interviews from the event and view photos (free), click here.

Hudson Unveils the Best Books of 2006

I am a reader.  I have been reading almost since birth, so when I received this press release from Hudson Booksellers, I was intrigued.  Frankly, I wanted to see how many of the books -- fiction and non-fiction -- I had actually read. 

Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier was chosen as the best book of the year.  Frazier is best known for writing Cold Mountain, a Civil War version of Homer's The Oddysey.  The nine other books chosen were: The Meaning of Night, by Michael Cox;The March by E.L. Doctorow; The Lay of the Land by Richard Ford; Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen; The History of Love by Nicole Krauss; The People’s Act of Love by James Meek; A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore; Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon; Absurdistan by Gary Shteyngart.

I have to admit: I've only read the Alan Alda and Michael Lewis books, both of which I thoroughly enjoyed, on the non-fiction side and none of the fiction books.  Let's just blame an aimless summer reading light chick-lit novels.  But now it's time to be serious.  The Meaning of Nightand The March are on my library list.  I'm going to have to check out the rest of the fiction list.

The books were chosen by a panel of Hudson Booksellers' book buyers based on the quality of writing, storyline, and sales performance.  But what's really clever is that the company will highlight the chosen books in their airport stores just in time for holiday shopping. I am one of those people who has shopped in airports for gifts, and I think busy travelers will appreciate having access to an impressive list of books.

On the non-fiction side, Hudson chose The Devil’s Teeth by Susan Casey; Never Have Your Dog Stuffed by Alan Alda; Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls; The Places in Between by Rory Stewart; Blind Side by Michael Lewis; Collapse by Jared Diamond; The Life & Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson;Thunderstruck by Erik Larsen; Leaving Microsoft to Change the World by John Wood.

Story of the Week - Canadian Airports Call For More Competition

This week's top story in Aviation Daily's Airports (see here for free) is a five-point plan presented by the Canadian Airport Council (CAC) to the government to improve competitiveness.  CAC has been quite vocal about how government policies are making Canada's airports unable to stand up to competition for international air service. 

CAC is calling for five specific measures:

• The elimination of airport rent;
• More money for customs services at airports;
• Changes in regulations to permit arrival duty-free sales;
• An increase in Airports Capital Assistance Program funding levels; and
• More international air service agreements.

Many of their issues mirror those being faced by U.S. airports as FAA reauthorization comes up in 2007.  CAC's biggest issue is that the government charges rent to all airports, which President Jim Facette claims costs facilities $300 million a year.  He called the rent charges by the goverment a tax that stifles competition.

CAC is also calling for more funds under the Airports Capital Assistance Program, which is similar to the U.S. Airport Improvement Program.  Facette noted that smaller airports need the funds to pay for airside equipment, such as runway lighting, visual aids and snow removal vehicles.  Watch this space as CAC's recommendations wind through the budget process.

Conde Nast Traveler Readers Pick the Best Airports

I am a long-time subscriber to Conde Nast Traveler magazine.  It's wonderfully written, the photos are beautiful and it feeds my wanderlust.  Anywhoo, the October issue has the annual Business Travel Awards, which includes ratings on U.S and international airports (see results here).  The magazine polled 1,800 readers and used a five-point scale from “excellent” to “poor.”  The scores were tabulated by the percentage of readers that gave “excellent” and “very good” ratings to airports.  I did an article (access for subscribers only) in the Oct. 10 issue of Aviation Daily/Airports.

The best U.S. airport was Portland International, while the best international airport was Singapore's Changi.  Readers lauded Portland for easy access, a good mix of retail and food/beverage concessions and free wireless Internet throughout the terminal, while Changi was praised for its myriad shops and amenities ranging from nap centers to terminals with free Internet access.

I haven't had a chance to visit Portland, but I've heard wonderful things about it, and it seems to be very popular with road warriors for its free wireless Internet, open and airy terminal and good mix of national, regionnal and local food/beverage and retail vendors.

But I have been to Changi, and I understand exactly why they were tapped as the top international airport.  It is one of the cleanest airports I've ever seen -- even the rest rooms.  And believe me, I am a stickler when it comes to public restrooms.  The layout of the airport is very customer friendly.

Considering how much more time passengers are spending in airports, you would think that more airports would get on the ball and spruce up their facilities.  Now to be fair, I am fully aware of the financial and governmental restraints that airports face in trying to improve their facilities.  But it seems to me that you have to spend money to make money, and passengers lingering longer will spend more money at nicer facilities, which adds to the bottom line.

Being a military brat and having jobs that have allowed me to travel extensively have allowed me to visit all kinds of airports, from palaces to pig stys.  Below is my top 10 list (in no particular order) of airports I've visited. 

1.  Orlando International Airport - I was at this airport in August for a family trip to the Magic Kingdom.  MCO to me is an extension of your vacation.  When you arrive, your concourse is light and airy, letting all the sunshine in.  The train to the main terminal is like riding the monorail to Disney World, and I've heard children make that very comment.  The main terminal is full of shops to buy those last-minute souvenirs from all the theme parks.  And it's very customer friendly.

2.  Long Beach Airport - this is an old-school airport that disembarks passengers from air stairs.  Makes me feel like Evita waving to the masses. I also am a big fan of art deco and love the 1930s feel.  But it could have better concessions...

3.  Baltimore-Washington Thurgood Marshall International Airport, especially Terminal A - I love what BAA is doing to my hometown airport.  The new A Terminal - where Southwest flies - is sunny and open.  They have a great mix of local and national concessions, including my new favorite California Tortilla and the venerable Phillips Seafood. The airport is in the middle of a capital construction plan that's adding all kinds of new concessions.   Plus BWI gets MAJOR points for a partking system that tells you exactly how many free spaces are available and where.  I hear that Phoenix and Portland are getting similar systems.

4.  Wasington Dulles - OK, you can read my old post here to see why I love Dulles so much.

5.  Manchester Airport (UK) - When I worked for Rolls-Royce, I'd fly here because it was much more convenient and less crowded than Heathrow (although LHR has much better shopping). 

6.  Las Vegas - come on, it's Las Vegas!!  Need I say more?

7.  San Francisco - the International terminal in my original hometown airport is a sight to behold.  They have a great selection of retail and fodd/beverage outlets, all local.  And you get two of SFO's best sushi places -- Ebisu and Osho.  And the vast majority of their food/beverage places are local establishments.  I love a good Big Mac like the next girl, but sometimes you just want to try something different.

8.  Amsterdam Schiphol - I love the shopping and passenger amenities at this airport.  I have bought tulip bulbs, cheese, sunglasses, prescription glasses, fridge magnets, duty-free liquor and perfume and other sundry items here.  I also saw a mini art exhibit, hung out at the casino and got in touch with my inner aviation geek at the observation area here.  And it's very easy to get around.

9.  Lugano Airport - I was attending a conference in Baveno, Italy, in the Lake Maggiore section north of Milan.  This airport is right on the Switzerland-Italy border and I had the best meal ever right there.  Homemade pasta that made me weep.  The food at the resort where the conference was held was really bad, so I was happily surprised to get such a good meal at a small airport.

10.  Keflavik Airport - What a fun little airport!  I was flying a Mesaba/Northwest Airlink 30-seat Saab 340 turboprop from Saab's headquarters in Linkoping, Sweden, to Minneapolis, and this was our overnight stop on the trip.  You could see stickers of all the airlines who had dropped by on ferry flights to their final destinations.  Of course, this was pre-9/11, but we got off the plane and walked right to the hotel.  The duty-free shopping is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and not only do they have the usual food/booze/perfume/electronics stuff, but you can get the necessities like medicine and other drug store-like products.

PTI Chairman Calls Out Delta Over High Fares

Henry Isaacson, chairman of the Piedmon Triad Airport Authority blasted Delta Air Lines' high fares in a letter to Jerry Grinstein, the carrier's CEO, according to an article in the Winston-Salem Journal.  The letter itself didn't surprise me; what did is that it took an airport so long to do it.

In the interest of full disclosure, I worked for Delta's corporate communications department from September 2004 through February 2006.  And I covered the regional airlines for 10 years (and worked for one for two years), so I've seen this issue from several different vantage points.

That said, airports like PTI are between a rock and a hard place.  On the one hand, they work hard to satisfy the needs of local business and leisure travelers by providing a mix of carriers with access to the global air transportation system.  But on the other, their efforts are hurt by higher fares and passengers traveling to other airports in the region (Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham in the case of PTI) for lower fares, usually offered by low-cost carriers like AirTran and Southwest, respectively.

And when you have a carrier like Delta, the largest carrier out of PTI with 26 flights a day to six cities, an airport tends to tread lightly, in fear of losing what service it already has.  And while I'm sure PTI is a perfectly nice airport, I don't think it's high on the list of destinations for low-cost carriers.  So you know that Mr. Isaacson really must have been at the end of his rope to publicly disclose what normally would have been a matter hashed out by the airline's planning department or handled by a private letter between two executives.

The not-so-open secret is that airlines price to what the market will bear.  And in smaller markets like PTI, the airlines are betting that business travelers (and their deep-pocketed companies) will just bite the bullet and pay the fare to get from Point A to Point B quickly and conveniently.  And with no real competition from low-cost carriers, legacy carriers like Delta know that they can get away with this strategy. 

If you look at the fares quoted by Mr. Isaacson -- PTI-LGA at $737 versus $98 and $168 at Charlotte and RDU, respectively -- I can see why he's a bit upset.  But again, someone has to be paying the fares, otherwise service would reduced or cut altogether.  But some businesses and leisure travelers either can't or won't pay those fares, so they get in their car and drive the 83 miles to Charlotte or 68 miles to RDU in search of lower prices.  Mr. Isaacson notes that his airport loses 1,400 flyers a day to RDU and 900 a day to Charlotte.  Those are not small numbers in the grand scheme of things for an airport the size of PTI.

The trick, of course, is getting that low-fare carrier to come to your airport.  Every time that happens, fares drop accordingly.  Our good friend Troy Bell at Richmond International Airport noted in an article (subscribers only) I wrote for Aviation Daily on Sept 7 that business travelers in the region are now saving millions of dollars after the airport attracted AirTran and JetBlue.  Ironically enough, Delta is the largest carrier out of RIC too.

In the Journal article, a Delta spokeswoman noted what I said before -- that the airport is priced at what the market will bear.  She elaborated further in a post on Ben Mutzabaugh's "Today in the Sky" blog for USA Today, where she noted that cheaper fares may be selling out faster than before because of the airline's capacity cuts as it reorganizes under Ch. 11 bankruptcy protection.  Those of us in the know understand that airlines only set aside a certain number of seats under the lowest fares.

It was not a surprise that the article mentioned that Mr. Grinstein had not read the letter.  From my time there, I know that if he read every letter from airports about their service (not to mention the ones from customers, vendors suppliers, etc.), he wouldn't have any time to run the airline. So what will happen?  PTI will generate some buzz, get some sympathetic letters/calls from other airports in a similar situation and then -- nothing.  Delta will continue to price PTI the way it has always done, and that won't change unless either there is a noticeably sharp drop in traffic or an LCC comes into the market.  It reminds me of the old saying -- don't hate the player, hate the game.

Strange, But True Airport News

You want to deliver that baby here?  US Airways passenger Victoria Betancourt gave birth to a 5- lb., 6-oz. baby girl behind the ticket counter at Tucson International Airport, according to KVOA-TV.  The baby, nickamed Jet, was delivered by airport firemen after Betancourt's water broke unexpectedly.

Bruce WIllis will have to 'Die Hard' somewhere else.  As a huge fan of the 'Die Hard' movies, this next news bit was painful for me to read.  Officials at Los Angeles International balked when the producers of the fourth movie in the franchise -- "Live Free or Die Hard" -- asked to close freeways going to LAX for 12 days to film, according to an article in the U.K.'s Times.  The airport sent a letter to Film LA, which handles filming permits for the city, saying that the producer's request could cause serious disruptions in its business, with air cargo companies claiming the filming could cost millions in delays.

Plugging in, Powering Up at Your Local Airport

OK, airport managers, you know your business travelers -- the ones always wandering around holding electronic equipment (laptop, cell phone, iPod, etc.), desperately looking for a place to plug in. It's especially prevalent at larger airports with transcon or international flights. Flyers have to get that last bit of juice before they are trapped in a metal tube without access to power.

Now there's help for your best passengers, and a way for you to tout what you have. Jeff Sandquist, a Director of Platform Evangelism for Microsoft Corp. , has created the AirPower Wiki, a Web site that allows users to add and edit content collectively. Jeff encourages frequent travelers to let their fellow road warriors know where they can find plugs at airports worldwide. U.S. airports ranking highest for access to outlets include: ABQ, ATL, CLT, DTW's McNamara Terminal, LGA, PIT and RNO.

Sandquist came up with the idea after being stranded at Minneapolis-St. Paul for more than seven hours.  "I was off to find a power outlet which can often be quite difficult.  It is pretty easy to find a pay for Wi-Fi connection, but electricity for your laptop, music or DVD player are impossible to find," he told Airports.  "I eventually found a great spot at the TGI Friday’s in Minneapolis’s Concourse C with five outlets, stools and of course food.  I wanted to share that information, as I know of others who have complained about the lack of power at airports."

Let's take one of my favorite airports, Hartsfield-Jackson. Not only do those nice people at Delta Air Lines offer "Relax and Recharge" areas with stools, countertops and plugs, you can also find a spare power outlet next to the new trash-compacting trash cans in all the concourses, along with the wall on either side of the gate counters.

And as a bonus, the AirPower Wiki also tells you the best places to get free Wi-Fi. Subscribers may remember that I did a story in the June 27 issue of Aviation Daily/Airports on airline clubs and airports that offer free Wi-Fi. I was also kind enough to include a Web site of airports offering free Wi-Fi worldwide.  I also found a site here that lists the 565 U.S. airports that offer Wi-Fi, with locations and costs, if any.

So airports, what are you doing to accommodate your best customers? And frequent flyers, what airports are working to make your life easier? Tell me about it!!